Some Things Are More Important
by ginchy-amanda
Summary: A missing scene from TOW The Truth About London.


Don't Sweat the Small Things, or Some Things Are More Important  
  
**This was written for a fiction contest at Friends Boards. It's a missing moment from "TOW The Truth About London.  
  
Chandler walked slowly back into his and Monica's apartment after talking with Joey. He was feeling better and much more confident about his status with Monica, but he was still upset over what he had found out. After shutting the door he gave a hesitant half smile to Monica who sat at the kitchen table with an untouched bottle of water and an unopened bag of tortilla chips. They looked at each other for a long moment, before Chandler broke the gaze and seated himself at the table, picking up her water and opening it, taking a long drink.  
  
Monica made no comment as he drank half of the water in this one gulp, even though she knew her role was to chide him on drinking most of her water. Instead she waited until he put the drink down and rested his hand on the table before placing her own hand over his and looking into his blue eyes.  
  
"Chandler," she began, "you were never 'runner up' to me."  
  
Feeling some of the hurt return to him from before his conversation with Joey, Chandler couldn't help but answer back, "Yes, I was. But it's not so bad. 'If for any reason Joey is unable to perform his duties I will be able to take over in his stead...' ", He said, mimicking the speech heard by runner's up the world over.  
  
He gestured between himself and Monica, "Well, will you look at how that turned out?"  
  
Monica nodded, "Okay, maybe I deserve that...and, you're right, Chandler. You were my second choice that night."  
  
Chandler's face went pale at those words, even after his previous sarcastic comments, and Monica sighed, rubbing her thumb back and forth across his hand, wondering how to explain her actions to him.  
  
"I went to your room looking for Joey. I thought that if I slept with him that I could just lose myself in the night and then not have to think about it later. I was thinking that Joey had slept with so many women that one more wouldn't really matter!"  
  
Chandler took a deep breath before asking, "Had you thought of sleeping with Joey before?"  
  
"No!" Monica cried, "The thought just came to me on a whim. I was thinking in a disjointed, drunken sort of way that I could sleep with Joey and that I'd feel better about myself."  
  
"But why Joey? Why not me? Why not some British guy? Don't you have a thing for English accents?" Chandler asked, putting on an accent and making finger marks in the air.  
  
"I chose Joey because I knew him and knew that he was a safe option...I didn't want to sleep with someone I didn't know."  
  
"And why not me?" Chandler asked, locking his eyes onto hers.  
  
"I don't know 'why not' you! I hadn't thought of you in that way for years! I thought of you like that when I was a teenager—briefly, but after that you became a friend to me and I didn't see you in a sexual light. And the ONLY reason I was able to think of Joey that way is because of his reputation. I knew that he'd been with a lot of women and I knew that he'd probably sleep with me."  
  
"So why did you sleep with me?" Chandler asked, looking down, toward the floor, nervously.  
  
"You were so sweet to me...and like I said, I was looking for sex...and for a way to lose myself in the moment...and you were there..."  
  
"So, again, I was your second choice; the runner-up.."  
  
Monica snapped in that moment, "Why can't you understand what I'm saying? I DID lose myself in that night—but I couldn't stop thinking about it later. You were so amazing. It was the best possible combination—my best friend, a fantastic lover. And that's not what I was looking for that night. But I'm incredibly glad that I found it!"  
  
"Me, too. And I'm sorry I'm being such an ass, but it still hurts to think that you were looking for Joey that night," Chandler said, "and I'm just being honest when I say that. I've just felt like the "runner-up" for most of my life, I guess."  
  
Monica nodded, and stood, walking over to Chandler and pulling him to his feet, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I know, baby, and I wish I could change that. But look how everything turned out—we're together, we're in love, and we're getting married. You're a wonderful man—you should never feel that you're "runner-up" for anything, let alone me. You've been my first choice for a long time now."  
  
Chandler looked down at her and smiled, leaning in to kiss her softly. "I love you, so much. I guess I was just hurt by the thought that you might not feel the same way that I do about our night in London."  
  
"I do feel the same way you do about our night in London—it was one of the best nights of my life. It gave me everything I was looking for. And I know that this," she gestured between the two of them, "is going to last forever."  
  
Chandler smiled, "That's what Joey said, too. That we—you and me—would last forever."  
  
"Well then," Monica smiled, "that must mean it's true."  
  
Chandler nodded, leaning down to kiss her once more. "I guess that it doesn't matter that I was once your second choice."  
  
Monica shook her head and threaded her fingers through his hair, before kissing him intensely; hoping to convey all of the love and passion that she felt for him.  
  
"We can't dwell on the past and decisions that I made. We should just be thankful that those decisions led us to this point. Some things in life are more important, Chandler."  
  
Chandler smiled, running his hand down the length of her face, "You're right," he said, "some things are more important."  
  
And as they kissed again, each secure in their feelings and place in one another's lives, Chandler mused that perhaps, in this case at least, being "runner-up" wasn't so bad, after all. 


End file.
